New Apex Legends bug lets players wear heat shields like hats

Apex Legends isn’t done giving us new bugs in season 14 yet.

One of the changes that flew under the radar in the patch notes but immediately became apparent upon playing the game were the changes to the first ring. Players have less time before the ring starts to shrink, and being outside the ring during the first round now damages players as if the ring was closing for the second time.

That change has made heat shields invaluable for many players that take lengthier fights off of drop, or simply those that end up a long ways away from the first circle. One player happened upon a bug that made their life significantly easier, however.

The player stumbled upon the new bug after finishing a fight with the zone closing. Low on health, Jomz knew that a heat shield would be necessary to heal up and loot death boxes for the trip through the ring ahead. And that’s when things got a little weird, as the heat shield winded up getting stuck to the character model, essentially granting Jomz’s Vantage a heat shield hat of protection.

It’s unclear how this bug happened or if it is specific to Vantage. One commenter in the Reddit thread mentioned they had accidentally pinged themselves while Echo was not out and the ping ended up referencing Echo, indicating that even while Echo is not out, he still stays physically in the game on Vantage’s person. It may be that the heat shield here was accidentally attached to Echo, but he is physically represented in the game when he’s not sent out with Vantage’s tactical.

Either way, this is a pretty fortunate bug if it happens to you. Without the trident hovercars of Olympus or Storm Point, moving through a map with a heat shield is usually impossible. But if you’re lucky enough, you might just get a cool new hat.